


everywhere but on.

by misswritingobsessed



Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: F/M, Past Relationship(s), romantic feelings, song prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26714851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misswritingobsessed/pseuds/misswritingobsessed
Summary: She still looked the same. Same brunette curls, same mannerisms, same old stubborn confidence, same old glare she’d mastered back in high school. Leanne Rorish was the same person he’d known, loved and lost over fifteen years earlier.
Relationships: Leanne Rorish & Ethan Willis, Past Leanne Rorish/Ethan Willis
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	everywhere but on.

**Author's Note:**

> When I say I really don't know what this is, it's because I really don't. I heard the song 'everywhere but on' by Matt Stell and thought of these two. 
> 
> It is slightly au, I'm running on the basis that these two had a relationship way back when and then years later Ethan shows up at angels. Any and all mistakes are my own, I really hope it's not awful.

She still looked the same. Same brunette curls, same mannerisms, same old stubborn confidence, same old glare she’d mastered back in high school. Leanne Rorish was the same person he’d known, loved and lost over fifteen years earlier. 

“When did you move to LA?” He asked quietly, not wanting to ruin the moment they were sharing on the rooftop. 

“Did four years at the state university, came here for medical school. I used to talk about it all the time, you know.” 

Ethan smiled, he remembered. “Yeah, your daddy sure wasn’t happy about his little girl living in the big city.” 

Leanne glanced over at him before turning her attention back to the city view. “What about you? Where did you move too after you left?” 

He had never planned on leaving. Leanne had, for medical school, but they always thought they’d end up back in that little town, Leanne running her own medical practice, Ethan doing whatever job he could to pay the bills. They’d have kids, nice house with a wrap around porch, they’d go to church on Sunday, they’d be good together. 

“Everywhere. Changed my mailing address to my mamma’s house and hit the road. Feel like I went everywhere.” 

Leanne waited a moment before she straightened up. “Did it help? Assuming you left to forget me?” 

Ethan chuckled, “You’re a hard woman to forget Leanne. I did whatever I could to make some money, served coffee, poured some concrete. Even had a job loading trucks in Texas. In the end I signed up.” 

Leanne tried to hide the blush on her face. Something she’d done well since Ethan walked into the hospital four days ago. His was a face she wasn’t supposed to see again. 

What happened all those years ago still hurt. He was supposed to be her forever. House, babies, church on sunday, he was supposed to be her everything. It took her a long time to get over Ethan Willis, yet not long enough for her to feel nothing when he was standing so close to her. 

“Didn’t find another woman to settle down with then, assuming you went everywhere. You always said you liked Savannah, Long Beach, Colorado, all these places, you didn’t feel like staying there?” 

Ethan sighed. “I tried, but I saw you. Everywhere I went I saw you for a really long time. I thought the more I drove the better it would be, the easier it would be. Leaving, driving, it was supposed to be easy, but it was hell, Leanne.” 

“Wasn’t all that easy in our hometown, either, Ethan.” 

They were standing so close. 

“Do you want to grab a drink with me?” He asked, he’d wanted to since he saw her in centre stage, but it never seemed like the right moment. 

“Did you ever think about coming back?” 

Ethan was caught off guard by her question. Standing in silence for a moment he ended up nodding with a smile. “Every moment of every day. Biggest regret of my life. I thought the highways, the freedom, I thought it would fix me, I thought it would make me turn around, come home, but I messed up.” 

“You sure as hell messed up, Ethan.” 

He couldn’t stop himself from grinning at her fiery nature. She really hadn’t changed, not at all. Maybe a little older, probably a lot smarter and wiser, but she was still the girl he’d fallen head over heels for in the tiny town he called home. 

Ethan stayed quiet for a moment. Looking at her he knew it would take some time to gain her trust, to prove that she was the woman on his mind since he drove off all those years again, but for the first time in his life he was willing to commit. 

“You’ve been here four days, how long are you planning on sticking around? Can’t imagine the Army cares much for you fixing your past mistakes.” 

“I’m here for however long it takes me to get you back, Annie.” 

Leanne felt herself tense up a little at the nickname he’d given her. A summer night behind the college football stadium, sharing cotton candy, he called her Annie instead of Leanne. Despite her hatred for nicknames, she felt herself go warm and a smile grow on her face. 

No one else had been able to call her anything other than Leanne since she was old enough to speak - he was the first, and the last, to give her any kind of nickname outside of ‘daddy’ when she was at work.

She turned to look at him, standing in front of him. Tilting her head to the side, she was trying to figure out what to say to him. She knew she couldn’t jump straight into bed with him, no matter how much she wanted to, or how much he would love it. 

“I made a life for myself after you. While you were trying to fix yourself on every highway in the US I was building a life and a career.” 

Ethan inched a little closer, a grin on his face, “Then I will follow your lead, Annie.” 

“You need to stop calling me that.” Leanne was quick to tell him, quick to lie to him. 

Ethan nodded. “Leanne, then. I will follow your lead, should have done it years ago, I hope you’ll let me do it now.” 

Leanne thought for a moment. Her head was in a battle with her heart. Was she ready to let him in again. He’d only been around for four days, and he knew how Army transfers were, in town one minute, in a war zone the next. 

“You can start by buying me breakfast.” She finally settled on breakfast, she was hungry and it would give her more time to think. 

Ethan nodded, “I can do that.” 

“You can also tell me where you actually went when you left. You mama didn’t say much when I asked, and your brother stopped looking me in the eye after he found us making out on your couch over spring break.” 

Ethan smiled at the memory of his brother finding them on the couch. He felt warm inside remembering how in love they were.

“I suppose I went everywhere. Maybe not all fifty states but it felt like it. I moved everywhere but on from you, Leanne.” 

“So why didn’t you come back?” The question had been in her mind when he left - she let it go pretty wick after starting medical school, but then the moment he walked into Angels it came back.

“Because I was stupid, and I didn’t realise what I had.”

At least he could admit it. 

“I like it here, Ethan. I love this job, I love these people. I’m good here, it’s not the little town life I wanted all those years ago.” 

“I told you I’m staying, Leanne. Riding my bike to whatever town sounded good didn’t fix me, the army tried but, maybe being here will fix me. Maybe me fixing what I made a mess of will fix me?” 

It had only been four days. Four long days of hearing his voice and then working side by side and the glances, slight touches of hands, but still only four days, Leanne reminded herself.

“Breakfast. We start with breakfast and we go from there.” 

“Okay. Maybe you can fill me in on what you’ve been up to these last few years. Rorish isn’t your maiden name.”

Leanne bit her lip, she knew Ethan, she knew she could trust him, talk to him, she doubted he’d changed much.

“Come on,” she bailed and chose to change the subject. “I know a great cafe not far from here.” 

“Lead the way, Annie.” 

“Seriously, Ethan, don’t call me that in public.” Leanne told him, shooting him her best glare before heading for the door.

Did that mean that he’d get to call her it in private? 

Maybe, just maybe, he thought as they walked towards the cafe she’d chosen, all those highways, little towns, deployments, maybe it did lead him home.

Maybe Leanne, the woman who was the center of his world all those years ago was home. 

“Can I ask you not to leave?” Leanne had decided to be vulnerable, just for a moment.

“I told you, Leanne, I’m here for however long it takes to get you back.” 

“When did you decide that?” 

“The moment I saw you again.” Because she hadn’t changed.

Brunette curls, mannerisms, the way she peered over her glasses, her morning coffee order, the necklace her daddy gave her at the age of 16, she was Leanne, and the moment he saw her, he knew, it should have been him and Leanne a very long time ago.

He was going to try and make it right now. 

“Trying to push you and your memory away wasn’t going to work. You really are a hard woman to forget.” 

“I'll take that as a compliment.” Leanne chuckled.

“You should. Now, come on, life story, let’s hear it.” She looked at him for a long while. 

He was supposed to be her future, way back then, but maybe that hadn’t changed? Maybe he was supposed to still be her future; they just needed some time apart and a moment like this to realise? 

-

Leanne wasn’t sure why she was staring at google maps at three in the morning, but there she was, laid awake.

Ethan has finally told her where he’d been, city’s he’d stayed in, small towns he’d fallen in love with. All while trying to get over her. 

Leanne found herself fascinated by it. She wanted to know, wanted to see. Having breakfast with him felt like old times, it felt like pulling on an old hoodie that was comfortable and warm. 

She wanted to hate him. Wanted to tell him to leave, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t find it within herself to tell him because deep down, despite the time that had passed, she wanted him there. Where she could see him, feel him, where he was close enough to touch, and close enough to be hers again. 

Early mornings like this she’d much rather be at work, usually. He’d gotten under her skin again. He’d made his way into her thoughts again. 

It had happened a few times over the years. She’d hear a certain song, see a certain motorbike, drive through a certain suburb, Leanne would see the tiniest thing and smile because it would remind her of her first love.

Now it was constant and had been since he set foot in the hospital, army issued cargo pants, t-shirt and standard haircut. Her heart skipped a beat and her mouth went dry, not that she’d ever tell Ethan, but he looked just as she thought he would, maybe minus the uniform. But she felt just as much love for him in the middle of performing a tracheotomy on a thirty four year old as she did at the age of sixteen on the front porch watching the rain in their small hometown after Sunday service. 

“Jesus, Leanne.” She muttered to herself.

He hadn’t even been in town a week before she was imagining their future together like she did when she was a teenager.

He still had a way to go before she trusted him fully. Before she would believe that he wouldn’t just take off again. 

Would she follow him if he did? Maybe that was a question for another day, or in her case early morning when sleep was avoiding her. 

She just needed to put up with him being around for a little longer. Just while she made up her mind. Just while she figured him out for the second time in her life. She hoped it would be as quick as the first time.

Fifteen and two weeks after the first kiss did Leanne figure out that Ethan was a ‘bad boy’ with a good heart. A mama’s boy with a motorcycle obsession and a grin that could make anyone’s day. 

She’d enjoyed his company. It was clear to see he wasn’t lying when he said he’d moved everywhere, every tiny town she’d never heard of, but had never quite moved on from her.

Fitting really, but if there was one thing she was sure of, it was that she’d never moved on from him either.

-

Ethan watched her work, mind racing just trying to keep up. Wiser than her years just like she had been as a teenager, funny, kind and smart as hell. 

She’d have gotten bored at a small town practice. She'd enjoyed it for a while, but she was made for the life of an ER doctor, she looked right at home in the middle of chaos. 

Ethan knew that was what had attracted him to the younger woman in the first place. Or at least one thing on the very long list he still had memorised. 

Her ability to look calm in chaos. Running from tornados, dirt biking and handling daddy’s shotgun like a pro. 

“Do you want to step in, Dr Willis?” 

He raised an eyebrow, taking steps through the mass of people to reach her and patient.

“We gotta stop this bleed or this guy won’t make it. Any tricks from your time in the field?” Leanne asked him without looking up.

“No, but I may have one from way back when Mikey fell off his dirt bike trying to impress Jennifer Laughton.”

He watched Leanne’s tips curl into a little smile, but it was gone in a flash - he knew she knew those names. She was there when Mikey fell off the bike, she was the first one to pull her jacket off and use it to stem the bleeding on their friends leg. 

“Go for it, Dr Willis, this guy doesn’t have all day.” 

Ethan liked her. It went without saying for him, but getting to know her again, getting to know the grown up she was now - he liked her even more. 

Loved her even more. 

-

“I thought you deserved better. My dad wasn’t the best dad, I knew I wanted to leave. You wanted to stay, so, I left, I realise now I should have asked you to come with me.” 

They were on the roof again. Leanne wondered if this would become a thing, if this would become the place they had all their meaningful conversations.

“Ethan.” 

“You wanted to know, so now you know. I wanted to get away, didn’t want to drag you with me because I knew you loved home. I messed up, spent the last god knows how long hating myself for it.” 

“I would have seriously considered it if you’d have asked.” 

Ethan smiled, “You're made for this place, Annie. Small town would have suited us for a bit, but after a while we’d have needed something more.”

“We would have figured it out, Ethan. We were good at that, even as teenagers.” 

“We can figure this out now, right? Because I never moved on, tried so hard, but it never worked.” He was being open.

Leanne nodded. “Yeah, I suppose we can.” 

Ethan nodded. “So, about that drink?” 

“I know a nice place not far from here - but you’re buying.” 

Ethan nodded, of course he was, but if that’s what it was going to take to make things work, he’d do it, over and over, whatever she needed from him. 

“Ready, Dr Willis?” 

“Ready.” 

**Author's Note:**

> did it make sense? I really hope so. I would love to know your thoughts :)


End file.
